He asked Ms May to congratulate engineering firm ADI Group for its scheme to boost the interest of 14- to 16-year-olds in engineering, then said: “Her words of congratulation would mean rather more if they were not accompanied by cuts of between 30 and 50 per cent in apprenticeships funding, a programme which the Institute of the Motor Industry has described as a “car crash.””

In response, Ms May said: “I, of course, am happy to commend the company that he has referred to, and of course the West Midlands are an important driver in terms of engineering skills in this country, but I simply don’t recognise the situation he’s set out in relation to apprenticeships.”

She continued: “We’ve seen two million apprenticeships created over the last six years, we’re committed as a government to ensuring more apprenticeships are being created – that’s giving young people opportunities, like the young people I met when I went to Jaguar Landrover, to learn a skill, to get into a job, to get into the workplace and to get on where their talents will take them.”

Ms Greening was asked if she shared the “very serious concerns” about the cuts, particularly in relation to social mobility. She responded by saying she would “look really carefully” at the responses to the ongoing consultation.

The new funding rates for apprenticeships from May 1 next year were unveiled by the Skills Funding Agency in August.

Exclusive analysis by FE Week of those figures revealed that funding for 16- to 18-year-olds in some of the most deprived areas of the country would be slashed by up to 50 per cent.